Picked up 180 lbs of “seconds” tomatoes from Maple Ridge at 6 a.m., paid the farmer’s asking price to keep them solvent, and I’m turning peels into powder and cores into vinegar — but the labor hit is real. How are you keeping waste under 5% and framing the menu price so guests understand we’re paying people and the soil fairly, without sliding into greenwashing?
But > the menu price so guests understand we’re paying people and the soil fairly, without sliding into — I put one plain line under the dish: Includes $1.20 to Maple Ridge + 12 min paid prep; no adjectives, just numbers, staff explains if asked, and we back it with weigh-in/out. For waste, we triage seconds at the door into cook-today vs dry-overnight and run the slicer/dehydrator after close, which keeps loss under 3% and shifts labor to dead time. Want the exact wording we use?
We triage that “180 lbs at 6 a.m.” into three bins (cook now/48h/sauce) and weigh trim by hotel pan tare; it keeps waste under about 3% and makes the labor math real. On pricing, bake it into the dish and add one calm footnote — “Maple Ridge seconds, hand-processed; full farm ask paid” — plus a QR to a 100‑word cost breakdown (no fees, no fluff); Sustainable Management of Food | US EPA helps if guests push. The labor hit is , but are you pulling tomato water from the seed gel for a chilled starter or spritz to buy back a few minutes?
I’d add a tiny “yield + labor” note per dish with a QR to a 15‑sec clip: “Tomatoes: 93% food, 5% ferment/stock, 2% compost; 7 min/lb prep” — specific enough to feel honest, not preachy. To keep waste under 5%, do a fast intake spec check and cap purchasing to what your crew can process at your measured min/lb; anything past that gets blanched and frozen same day. @ontherange, do you know your current min/lb on seconds vs. #1s?